Que Huong Restaurant
4134 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105
(619) 283-1792
This weekend, I got a chance to check out Que Huong Restaurant. I’ve been wanting to check out Que Huong Restaurant since reading Dennis of A Radiused Corner’s post. While a lot of the dishes looked really interesting in his post, the ones I thought looked most interesting were the different flavored wings.
I’ve also been wanting to expand my experience with Vietnamese food, since the only Vietnamese food I usually eat is pho. I know that there are quite a few posts by fellow San Diego bloggers on this spot, but I didn’t get a chance to review them prior to my visit.
Once inside, I was pleasantly surprised by the decor. The place looked pretty nice, with a lot of large tables and the seats all had seat covers. There were a lot of interesting menu options.
We ordered Hanoi Style Grilled Snapper Cake. The snapper was served on a sizzling plate and accompanied by lettuce, rice noodles, pineapple, cucumbers, pickled carrots and a shrimp sauce.
I had expected actual fish cakes made out of snapper, but these just seemed to be fried pieces of snapper. The snapper by itself was really salty, but once wrapped in lettuce, some pineapple, pickled carrots, cucumbers and vermicelli, it wasn’t too salty. I really liked the combination of so many flavors and thought they all worked well together. I didn’t really like the shrimp sauce that you are supposed to dip the fish in.
W also ordered Marinated Deer Meat. I love deer meat and other gamey meats and was surprised to see it on the menu, so of course I had to order it. The meat was served on a sizzling plate with onions. The meat was gamey and you could definitely taste that it was deer. Sometimes when I get deer meat at a restaurant, the taste is so mild, it just tastes like beef.
We tried to order the eel with coconut sauce but they were out of it, which wasn’t a big surprise. Eel has been really expensive lately and a lot of restaurants won’t serve it or have raised their prices.
Finally, we got wings. We asked if we could do two different kinds, and they allowed us. We chose fish sauce wings and tamarind wings.
The tamarind wings were sweeter and crispier. I liked them.
The fish sauce wings tasted good too, but they also were more wet from the fish sauce. BF preferred the fish sauce wings. I preferred the tamarind ones.
When I left, I had to take a picture of the money tree I had seen when I entered. When I first arrived, I saw a small one. I thought it was so cool looking. It had little charms and money made into origami birds and butterflies hanging from the tree. As I went to take a picture, the waiter pointed out to me that they had a full size version for a better picture. I’m not sure how I missed such a big tree. Perhaps I need something like this in my house…
hi kirbie – i believe my first 2 posts are in my march archives, then the 3rd one in april (during my bday – we got shafted by the waiter because he wouldn’t let us sit in a large round table with a lazy susan even though the restaurant was nearly empty).
i didn’t like their banh xeo because it’s too big and kind of messy. i like the smaller and crisper crepe at pho hiep grill in eastlake. of the wings, i liked the fish sauce ones a tiny bit better.
That sucks that they didn’t let you sit at a big table! I think I remember reading that post (I remember the table incident), but I forgot it was at Que Huong. I will definitely read your posts before my next visit!
hi kirbie – i love their fish sauce wings – they let us do the combo flavors too. i like the tamarind ones as well. the owner is really super nice. he comped us a banh xeo when we visited the 2nd time. i’d like to try that fish dish you had….looks pretty good!
my husband and i liked the pork and shrimp jack fruit salad with shrimp chips (this is actually pretty easy to make) and the banana blossom salad (okay, haven’t tried making that – the banana blossom thing seems intimidating) and the caramel prawns in ginger and black pepper sauce. what i would give to have that sauce right now.
Thanks for the suggestions. I need to read your previous posts on this place before I go next time. I think I remember you saying you did some. How do you feel about the other two flavors of wings?
Hi Kirbie, the shrimp sauce was too pungent for me too. But loved the dish, I think it was Cha ca thang long or something like that.. The smaller wings here are great.
I thought the shrimp sauce was too pungent too. Which is surprising because I thought my tastebuds could handle something like that better. I love wings and love experiencing different flavors.
Hey Kirbie – I’m glad you finally got to try Que Huong. The Cha Ca (fish dish) you had is much different from the traditional version, but it is pretty good. Personally, i prefer the fish sauce wings…..
Hi Kirk, I would gladly eat either of the wings again. I think I liked the fish sauce ones more taste-wise, but I just didn’t like that my wings were more wet and soggy.
One of these days, I need to learn all the names for these dishes.